Inside Iowa State

Aug. 24, 2007

Going "LEAN" in HR Services

by Erin Rosacker

Concerns about the time it takes to fill a position at Iowa State prompted Human Resource Services to bring in Workplace Lean, a business consultant resource offered by Des Moines Area Community College, to help examine Iowa State's hiring process. The LEAN approach helps streamline practices that bog down efficiency.

"We wanted to be responsive to the concerns, and the LEAN process seemed a really good way to look at the recruitment and hiring process and try to improve," said Vicki Brubaker, HRS associate director and manager of recruitment services.

Earlier this summer, DMACC's Workplace Lean staff met with a 15-member focus group made up of HRS personnel and representatives from campus-wide departments and administration areas. They explained the LEAN method and helped the focus group work to identify issues.

The focus group decided to concentrate on the hiring process for Professional and Scientific employees as its first LEAN project, using three half-day meetings to apply the LEAN method and develop "action" steps to improve workflow.

"The group looked at our hiring process from beginning to end," Brubaker said. "The facilitators were there, but it was up to us to try to identify and target areas for improvement."

She said the focus group's goal is to get the workflow as simplified as possible, so that everyone can easily manage the process. The average length of time it currently takes to fill a position - which Brubaker estimated at 12 to 14 weeks - is a major issue the group hopes to address and improve with the LEAN method.

Mapping the process

Brubaker said the group visually mapped out the steps in the current process and then examined each step to determine the "value" it added to the process, if any. The ideal process, after elimination of redundancy and inefficiency, cut the initial map of steps in half. The focus group developed action items to achieve the ideal - or "perfect" - process. Some of the items can be immediately addressed, while others will require more time to implement.

The action items were assigned throughout the group, which meets again in September. The items range from the relatively simple (a checklist for the approval process), to the more complicated (working with the online application provider to provide a single step that creates both a position description and a hiring notice).

"That's the nice thing about LEAN," Brubaker said. "You identify long-term and short-term, but you get something going and make some fixes. And you're working toward perfection, so it's continuous."

Work not finished

There are more issues that need to be evaluated. Some of the big action items within this initial process may need the LEAN method applied to them separately. But Brubaker said HRS and the campus community should start to reap the benefits of an improved process soon.

"I think this is going to help us keep things moving," Brubaker said. "It has to help if things are more streamlined and you only make the same decision once. I'm excited that it's a collaborative effort. Hopefully, everyone is going to benefit."

"We wanted to be responsive to the concerns, and the LEAN process seemed a really good way to look at the recruitment and hiring process and try to improve."

Vicki Brubaker, HRS associate director and manager of recruitment services